Ok, when I originally imported my car I noticed it was quite rusty around the battery area. Actually for compliance I had to replace the battery tray. Its the bit below this which has me concerned. I've done some rust killing before which is not very hard, but in this case there is massive amounts of rust and its in a hard to get to spot. I'm not sure what to do as I don't know how far the rust is spread. My relatively "new" battery tray (not shown) is already starting to rust. So the question is... should I take it to a panel beater and just try get this rust killed, or should I pull the whole engine and do it thoroughly. I'm planning on getting a complete respray somewhere in the next 6 months so maybe I should pull the engine so they can do the lot Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Are you going to do any work on the engine if you pull it..? If work would be planned, take it out and get it sprayed.. Better safe than sorry.. The rust looks like acid may have been splashed on the metal work..
yeah it was rusted before I got it so I think there been a battery leak or something. And yeah if I took the engine out I would take the opportunity to do some work on it. I'm thinking its probably the best way to go, going to cost me a fortune
Although it's bad, it doesn't look structurally unsound. Assuming this, I'd remove all loose rust with a wire brush (on a drill or dremel). Then I'd paint it with 2-3 coats of rust converter, e.g. Rust Kill - amazing stuff, then a couple of coats of enamel. This will get rid of all rust including converting what's remaining to iron (iron oxide ??), and protect it and prevent rust from returning soon. Easily done in a weekend. In slower time, when you're ready to if you're going for a full respray, you can talk to your panel beater / spray painter. Cheers, Peter
What a scabrous blight! But I agree with what Peter has said... looks like superficial damage only, but needs to be stopped NOW! Clean up all the dry material... big big sucky vacuum cleaner... scrub with a wire brush, etc, down to bright metal then drown the area with Kill-Rust. Get the car up on ramps/stands and see what it looks like, treat from underneath as well. Then go to your local paint shop and get them to make you up a spray can of appropriately coloured paint and spray top and bottom. Then do it properly if/when the engine has to come out. I had the same problem with some wrought-iron work on the balcony of my first house. Cleaned up with a wire brush, used Kill-Rust and then painted it all with zinc chromate paint, then several coats of normal enamel. When we sold, ten years later, it was still pristine.
give it a clean a few trimes with Bicarb soada and hot water then get on the quest like the others have said, if you don't nutralise the acid, it won't stop...
